Smol Pub currently doesn't keep track of how many times a post has been seen. I haven't added this functionality because I don't feel it's a metric we should care about. Seing a number going up is surely a metric that's encouraging. Sometimes, it's something that motivates to write more. However it can also induce stress, or fear to publish, when we know the number might be low. What I enjoy about the small net is the slow nature. That people write for themselves and connect because they really care. I have no idea how many people are reading what I'm writing, but I'm happy this way because I don't feel pressured to write at all.
But then I understand it's something some of us care about, and I sometimes receive emails asking about it. So I would love to know what you think: should Smol Pub offer a simple way to see how many people viewed a post?
The way this could look like could be a simple "hit" counter associated to each post. Anytime the backend is asked to show the post (regardless if the request comes from gemini, web or gopher), it increments that counter, which would would be showed in the post list on the dashboard.
Of course that's a very naive way to include page views. Someone could refresh the page 10 times and the counter would be 10.
Would love to get your thoughts!
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From Dusk's End, Nightfall City
m15o@posteo.net